It was one of the many memories of the past year racing through Tony's mind. Now it was December 18, 2006, 13 months after that lunch date. Tony knew it was well beyond time to propose and had been carrying the ring around for over a week now.
The relationship was already complicated as they tried to keep a line between private and professional matters; a marriage would further complicate that. What he loved was that Michelle was willing to work on it too and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that their marriage would work simply by the way they looked at each other. Tony was hopelessly in love.
CTU was unrecognizable with all of the decorations, food, and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" playing softly in the distance. Each year one CTU in California would host a Holiday Ball for all three agencies in the state. It was a chance for agents to be people around each other, to get to talk about the weather in a stress free environment for once.
This year was CTULA's turn and Michelle was basically responsible for putting it together. She glowed as she made her way through the room. She wore a stunning red spaghetti-strapped dress and her hair was tamed in a silver clip.
Determined
that no one miss out on the party, Michelle was visiting with the
guards posted by the main entrance, offering them coffee.
Tony
took a breath and made his way to Michelle. He walked up behind
her, put his hands on her hips and whispered "follow me".
He
led her out of the doors and outside where it was unusually cold
for Los Angeles in the winter. He took his coat off and rested it
on her shoulders.
"thank you"
"my pleasure"
"what?"
"what what?"
"you're looking at me funny"
"no I'm not"
"you are too, you're staring"
"well what's a man to do when a woman's so beautiful?"
Michelle smiled "charming"
"ya think so?"
"oh yeah"
As they
walked Tony had his arm around her. He leaned over and kissed her
passionately.
"wow. What was that for?"
"Shhh. Don't ruin it."
"What?" Michelle was utterly confused.
"Shhhh"
"ok, ok"
"Look Michelle, uh, I don't really know how to say all that I want to. There are no words to tell you how much I love you. You walk into a room and it hits me; how much I missed you in the minutes we spent apart. All it takes is one look and you make me not even care that the world is falling apart around us. And I can't begin to think of my life without you."
As tears were forming in Michelle's eyes, Tony knelt on one knee.
"Ok, so…" Tony cleared his throat. "Michelle, will you marry me?"
